Tragedy in Rio de Janeiro: at least three dead from a landslide in a favela

The avalanche occurred after two days of rain at Niteroi Credit: Twitter

RIO DE JANEIRO .- At least nine people died and several remain missing following a landslide this morning in a favela of Niteroi, a nearby town

Rio de Janeiro
, after two days of heavy rains in the region.

According to the Civil Defense, the avalanche occurred at 4 am when a large stone rolled from the top of the hill and hit six houses of the community of Boa Esperança, in the district of Piratininga. The rescue teams managed to survive eleven people, including a child, but nine people died buried in the mud, stones and debris from the houses. About 200 members of the Civil Defense and firefighters worked against time to find the missing, without having an exact figure of the people who were in the place at the time of the landslide.

"My eight-month-old niece, Nicole, is buried there, and I managed to get my nephew out, who is in hospital with my children," said Rosemary Caetano da Silva, who helped rescuers on the spot where she home.

Batalhão de Niterói auxilia equipes do@cbmerjoficial that trabalham to resgatar vítimas buried under the ground slips nesta manhã, not Morro da Boa Esperança, in Piratininga, when he is a pedra rolou do alto da comunidade and atingiu houses. Our family support!pic.twitter.com/ihmIPC1SdI& – PMERJ (@PMERJ)10 November 2018

The night before, the family had celebrated the birthday of Nicole's brother, Arthur Caetano de Carvalho, 3 years old; the child was in serious condition, accompanied by his parents. The survivors were taken to the hospitals of Azevedo Lima and Mario Monteiro.

"It rained a lot in the last two days, Niteroi was in a state of alert and the communities were alerted to the situation, with the recommendation that they look for safer places," Secretary of State Civil Protection told Globo News. of Rio de Janeiro, commander Roberto Robadey.

Fortunately, in the middle of the morning, the downpour had come to an end and the weather forecast was dry and stable for the area in the following hours. Traffic on Avenida Francisco da Cruz Nunes, near the site of the tragedy, had been closed to facilitate relief and assistance to the inhabitants of the favela, because other houses were at risk of collapse.

According to the president of the Morro da Boa Esperança Association, Claudio dos Santos, the entry of several houses had already been banned. "The houses are isolated from the Civil Defense, but there are people who are complicated and do not want to leave, and yesterday we were already worried about this rain, but this happened," said Dos Santos.